John Lodge bass guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for The Moody Blues has released a new single “In These Crazy Times (Isolation mix)”. The track isavailable to download on Amazon, iTunes, and all usual streaming services.
John recorded the track in his home studio in Florida and he performed vocals and guitar and using GarageBand – keyboards and drums. Joining John on the song are his wife, Kirsten and son, Kristian, both of whom have never recorded before. John was also delighted to have Jon Davison, of YES, add backing vocals and harmonies.
John says: “In 1967 “The Moody Blues” recorded ‘Days of Future Passed’, and we were in the studio in lockdown 24 hours a day creating an album that changed my life. Being in lockdown now reminds me of the creativity and solitude that took place during that period of my life. So I have taken the opportunity, given by this lockdown period, to write and record a new song about these difficult day – days that stretched into weeks and months.”
“When the pandemic came I had just finished up my US tour and the Rock and Romance cruise and within three days my wife and I were ‘stranded’. Music is my life, and without a studio (or my band), I decided to perfect my use of ‘GarageBand’ to create all the instruments, and record my guitars and vocals in my “ home studio”.
“As I believe we are all in this together, I thought what a great idea to involve all of my family. My wife Kirsten is singing backing vocals (for the first time!), my son Kristian is playing Lead Guitar, his wife, Inga, took the photo for the cover (with social distancing!), Jon Davison, from the band ‘Yes’, joined me on vocals, and Emily, my daughter is managing the whole thing.”
“The track was recorded at my home and Kristian and Jon added their parts in their homes, before we sent it to Ray Nesbit, my Front of House Sound Engineer for him to mix at his ‘home’ studio. It truly is an ‘Isolation Mix’. My wish is that we can all be together again soon, and then I hope that my 10,000 Light Years Band and I can get together and make a ‘Freedom Mix’.”
“I hope you all can relate to this song as another step in life’s strange and mysterious path, and help you continue to keep the faith that we can do it together.”
About John Lodge: John Lodge is bass guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the iconic Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2018 inductees, The Moody Blues. Songwriter of such mega Moody Blues hits from “Ride My SeeSaw,” to “I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band),” “Isn’t Life Strange?” and many more, Lodge has been performing and recording with The Moody Blues for more than five decades, selling in excess of 70 million albums. Lodge has been voted one of the “10 most influential bass players on the planet,” and has been the recipient of many awards, including ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers), an Ivor Novello Award, to name just a few.
It is with profound sorrow and sadness that Cherry Red Records and Esoteric Recordings regret to announce that Ray Thomas, founder member, flautist and vocalist of the Moody Blues, passed away suddenly at his home in Surrey on Thursday 4th January 2018.
We are deeply shocked by his passing and will miss his warmth, humor, and kindness. It was a privilege to have known and worked with him and our thoughts are with his family and his wife Lee at this sad time.
Born in Stourport-on-Severn on 29th December 1941, Ray was a member of various Birmingham Blues and Soul groups in the early 1960s, notably with El Riot and the Rebels, who also featured John Lodge and Mike Pinder at various stages in their existence. Ray formed The Krew Cats with Mike Pinder in 1963 and the group performed on the Hamburg club scene that year. Returning to Birmingham, Thomas and Pinder formed the Moody Blues with Denny Laine, Graeme Edge, and Clint Warwick. The band signed to Decca Records and enjoyed a worldwide hit with their cover of Bessie Banks’ “Go Now” in January 1965.
In October 1966 the Moody Blues line-up changed with the recruitment of Justin Hayward and John Lodge to replace the departing Denny Laine and Clint Warwick. The musical style of the group changed dramatically with the incorporation of the Mellotron into their sound, along with Ray’s evocative flute playing.
The band’s 1967 single “Nights in White Satin” (from the groundbreaking album “Days of Future Passed” – a number one album in the USA in 1972) was graced by a magical flute solo from Ray, contributing to the evocative arrangement of the song.
Over seven albums released between 1967 and 1972, the Moody Blues enjoyed major success, and each album was graced with compositions by Ray such as “Legend of a Mind” (about the psychedelic champion Timothy Leary), “Eternity Road”, “And the Tide Rushes In” and “For My Lady”.
In the mid-1970s, Ray recorded two successful solo albums; “From Mighty Oaks” (1975) and “Hopes Wishes and Dreams” (1976). The Moody Blues success continued into the 1980s. Ray’s song “Veteran Cosmic Rocker” (from 1981’s “Long Distance Voyager”) highlighted Ray’s marvelous sense of humor.
Ray remained with the Moody Blues until 2002 when he retired from the band due to health issues. Despite mobility issues, Ray continued to play and record occasionally, contributing a new song, “The Trouble with Memories” to a 2010 boxed set release of his two solo albums and more recently to the John Lodge album “10,000 Light Years Ago” in 2014. In 2017 it was announced that the members of the Moody Blues, including Ray Thomas, were to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
In a statement by Andy Kinch of Kracked Earth;
The NASA New Horizons mission was launched January 19th 2006. Its goal was to explore Pluto and its moons during July 2015, and then to journey out into the vast unknown regions of space. On its way to its encounter with Pluto, in Feb 2007 it swung past the giant gas planet of Jupiter.
New Horizons has always been one of Justin Hayward’s best songs, and during the summer of 2015, the success of the NASA mission resonated with my feelings for the song and resulted in my desire to record my own version. I hope you enjoy.
British Progressive AOR band Kracked Earth have just released a new video containing a beautiful remake of the Moody Blues classic “New Horizons” The video is dedicated to NASA’s New Horizons mission. Click on the image to watch.
Enjoy!
PERFORMING THEIR ICONIC ALBUM LIVE ONSTAGE IN ITS ENTIRETY – FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
LEGENDARY BAND TO BRING AUDIENCES ACROSS THE U.S. AND CANADA A FIRST-EVER LIVE TOUR OF THEIR ENTIRE LANDMARK ALBUM FEATURING “NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN,” “TUESDAY AFTERNOON” AND MORE; PLUS GREATEST HITS
TOUR BEGINS JUNE 3 THROUGH JULY 23
Los Angeles, CA (Feburary 16, 2017)–The Moody Blueswill launch a special live tour celebrating the 50th Anniversary of their iconic, landmark album, DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, which was originally released in 1967. The band will reflect back on five decades of some of the most well beloved music in pop culture history this summer, when they perform live onstage, for the first-time ever, their epic album that marked the first time a rock band had fused their sound with a symphony orchestra. The tour, titled DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED – 50TH ANNIVERSARY, will bring the live excitement of seeing the band perform their greatest hits in the first half, and then finish with DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED performed in the second half. The tour begins on June 3 in Rancho Mirage, California, and continues through July 23 in Atlanta, Georgia, hitting 25 cities (and 28 performances), including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, Baltimore, Denver, Cleveland, Nashville, and many more.
Fans will have waited 50 years to experience this moment in time, as the band’s first full-length studio album, DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, was a ground-breaking concept album when it was first released. So unique in its approach, the recording of their first studio album turned out to be piece of music history. Their record label, Decca Records, had requested that the band record an album to test “stereo recording,” which was in its infancy at the time. Being primarily a classical label, The Moody Blues were asked to record a rock version of Dvorak’s 9th Symphony. The band complied, but wanted to record it on their own terms. Behind closed doors, they came up with the concept of fusing classical music with rock, but written to their own soundtrack. The result was DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, an album that today, many consider a masterpiece – featuring one full album without breaks, chronicling “a day in the life of” a person with songs that include: “The Day Begins,” “Dawn: Dawn Is a Feeling,” “The Morning: Another Morning,” “Lunch Break: Peak Hour,” “Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon),” “Evening Time to Get Away”; Twilight Time” and “The Night: Nights In White Satin.”
From DAYS, the song “Tuesday Afternoon” became a massive worldwide hit, and “Nights In White Satin” marked one of the first four minute songs played on the radio, going on to become one of the biggest selling singles in history, and hitting #1 three separate times on Billboard. The ultimate result: one of the greatest-selling albums of all-time.
Says Hayward, “Little did we know when we made DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED that it would eventually change our lives — it took five long years to make it the top of the charts. But we mustn’t take all the credit for this remarkable project — there were many creative minds who contributed at the time, and who believed in us when we were young and inexperienced. We just wrote the songs — about every-man. My dearest wish is that maybe the album has made the world a better place. It will be a joy to return to it, live.”
Adds Lodge, “DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED…seven days that changed my world…”
From the time the British band first hit the rock scene, The Moody Blues have continued to produce music that bridge the gap between rock, classical and pop-rock genres. Featuring guitarist/vocalist Justin Hayward, bassist/vocalist John Lodge, and drummer Graeme Edge, The Moody Blues’ sound has held its ground in a genre of music that is ever-changing.
The Moody Blues have sold in excess of 70 million albums worldwide and have been awarded 14 platinum and gold discs. Their roster of hits include: “Nights In White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Ride My See Saw,” “The Story In Your Eyes,” “Isn’t Life Strange,”“Question,” “I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band),” “Your Wildest Dreams,” and “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,” to name a few. The Moody Blues’No. 1, Top 5, Top 10, Top 20,Top 40, Multi-Platinum, Platinum and Gold albums and singles, have generated sold-out tours on a consistent basis over the course of several decades, making them one of the top-grossing album and touring bands of all time.
“DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED – 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR” dates are as follows:
6/3/17 Agua Caliente Casino Rancho Mirage, CA
6/4/17 Starlight Theater Pala, CA
6/6/17 The Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
6/7/17 The Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
6/9/17 Edgefield Portland (Troutdale), OR
6/10/17 Chateau Ste. Michelle Seattle (Woodinville), WA
6/11/17 Chateau Ste. Michelle Seattle (Woodinville), WA
6/17/17 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA
6/18/17 Ironstone Amphitheatre Murphys, CA
6/20/17 Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre Denver (Englewood), CO
6/27/17 Orpheum Theatre Minneapolis, MN
6/28/17 Milwaukee Summerfest Milwaukee, WI
6/30/17 Ravinia Park Chicago (Highland Park), IL
7/1/17 Fraze Pavilion for the Performing Arts Dayton (Kettering,) OH
7/2/17 Hard Rock Live Cleveland (Northfield), OH
7/6/17 Sony Centre For Performing Arts Toronto, ON
7/7/17 Sony Centre For Performing Arts Toronto, ON
7/9/17 Toyota Presents the Oakdale Theatre Wallingford, CT
7/10/17 Blue Hills Bank Pavilion Boston, MA
7/12/17 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater Wantaugh, NY
7/13/17 PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ
7/15/17 Mann Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA
7/16/17 Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, NY
7/18/17 Sands Bethlehem Events Center Bethlehem, PA
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It is with profound sorrow and sadness that Cherry Red Records and Esoteric Recordings regret to announce that Ray Thomas, founder member, flautist and vocalist
In a statement by Andy Kinch of Kracked Earth;
